Bungie Weekly Update!!!

So, the Weekly Update is here, complete with Mister Chief, and what a week it's been. Not too much happened on the game front, but in the land of politics and crap like that, it was a doozy. Here's the [url=http://rampancy.net/node/view/8169]FORUM POST[/url].

As you can see, the new post is located over with the good folks at [url=http://rampancy.net/node/view/8169]Rampancy.net[/url] who've been helping tremendously with this week's shenanigans.

Halo 2 Piracy

Halo 2 has been illegally released onto the internet and we need your help...

Last night a pirated copy of Halo 2 was released onto the internet. Needless to say we think this really sucks. Aside from years of hard work being stolen from us, we've gone to great lengths to ensure that the details of the Halo 2 campaign remain a mystery for players to experience for themselves on November 9th. Microsoft is currently engaged in a full scale investigation and to those foolish enough to partake in this piracy, you will soon witness the firepower of this fully operational battle station.
Members of the Bungie community - we need your help. The Underground Army is being called into action; this is not a drill. Anyone who has information regarding the leak of the game or individuals or websites promoting the download of these illegal files is asked to please contact us by sending email to [b]piracy@microsoft.com[/b] or calling 1-800-RULEGIT. We also ask that you help us minimize the spoilers for those opting to wait for the retail release by refraining from posting screens, talking about the story and deleting any such posts you encounter. Many of you have already been actively tracking down and forwarding links to us and we thank you for your help.

Bungie Weekly Update : VIDEO!

The special video edition of the Bungie Weekly Update is here and ready for your viewing pleasure. Get a glimpse inside Bungie as Frankie and I give you a virtual tour of the Studio and chat with a few familiar faces along with way.

In light of Halo 2 going gold, we decided to up the ante for the latest weekly update. Mere text alone just wouldn't suffice for something of this magnitude. So, we've harnassed the power of Windows movie maker and our trusty handicam to bring you inside Bungie for a personal tour. You won't find any beautifully choreographed shots or well timed cuts and fades in this video. To be clear, Joe Staten had nothing to do with this. =) Instead you'll find me shakily walking around laughing in the background as Frankie unleashes some comedy gold. Hopefully you'll enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Currently we've only got Windows Media Player versions available for viewing - a big one and a small one. Our friends at HBO and Mythica.org are working on creating additional formats as well as setting a BitTorrent seed to faciliate easier downloads. We didn't want to make you wait a second longer so while they are busy doing that we're going to release what we've got for now.
You can download the following by right-clicking the link and choosing "save as" or you can simply click it and let it stream to your computer. And don't worry about the bandwidth, these are hosted deep in the depths of the Microsoft data center, well beyond our own servers.
Without further ado, here's the video:
[url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/5/C/35CC334B-4905-457F-9070-D6A4D968C3DF/weeklyupdate_hires.wmv]Windows Media Hi-Res[/url] (640x480 90 MB)
[url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/6/1/661D2F29-95FB-416F-8876-5EFF87930CBB/weeklyupdate_low.wmv]Windows Media Low-Res[/url] (320x240 40 MB)

Bungie Weekly Update!

Bungie Weekly Update is delayed! Kinda. You can read why over at [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=492915]Halo.Bungie.Org[/url] and better yet, see a new Halo 2 screenshot!

The good news is that after you've read this [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=492915]Weak Excuse for an Update[/url] you can enjoy the new screen AND look forward to a cool video update and some major announcements on Monday.

Technical Difficulties: Please Stand By

The forums are down... yes, we know. I've been attempting to determine the root cause. Read on for details...

The forums have been flaky in the last 48 hours, and we're trying to find out what's busted. As such, they may be taken down as we examine certain parts of them. Furthermore, if the problem threatens to spread to the rest of the site, the forums may go on vacation for a weekend break. We apologize for the downtime.
So, you don't need to email us when you see a message saying "Forums Disabled". For everything else, though, we appreciate any detailed bug reports you can send.

Play Halo 2 Before the World!

Calling all Halo 2 fans! This is your one and only chance to play Halo 2 before the rest of the world. ESPN and Major League Gaming are offering 50 lucky winners the chance to enjoy Halo 2 multiplayer before anyone else!

ESPN's Cold Pizza is one of the greatest sports talk shows in history. And they know a good game when they see it, which is why they, in conjunction with Major League Gaming (and a little bit of cooperation from us of course), are giving some lucky winners the chance to play Halo 2 before it's released to the public. Even before New Zealand! In fact, the lucky winners (50 of 'em!) will get the chance to play on November 4th in a massive multiplayer fiesta hosted at the ESPN Zone in Times Square!
You might even get to meet one or two Bungie employees at the event. But you can't and won't win squat unless you register to win, and you can do that right now by clicking on [url=http://www.coldpizza.tv/halo.html]THIS LINK![/url]
To win, you have to be aged 18 or over, and winners will be selected at random and notified during the week of October 25th. So what are you waiting for? Go register at [url=http://www.coldpizza.tv/halo.html]Cold Pizza![/url]

New Rooster Teeth Productions Website Launched!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, the new Rooster Teeth Productions website is finally here!!!

Rooster Teeth Productions, as some of you already know, is home to the popular machinima series, Red Vs. Blue. The new website launched yesterday, with tons of neat new features such as customizable profiles for the forums (similar to our very own Bungie.net's forums.) I advise you all to go and check out all it's cool new bells and whistles. Also, Red Vs. Blue Season 3 is due to start any day now, so watch for it. Check it out at http://www.redvsblue.com/.

We are basically done making Halo 2. Seriously. Barring any unexpected shenanigans, Halo 2 is done and dusted, simultaneously, for every region it will be released in worldwide. Oh, and Parsons has been hitting the sushi again...

Vote to Help Halo Make Its Mark

Halo and Master Chief have been nominated to have a star in their honor at the San Francisco Metreon on the venue's "Walk of Game" which is clearly modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame. To vote, you have to [url=http://www.walkofgame.com/]REGISTER HERE[/url].

Now while registering is an unpleasant way to start your morning, it's worth it in the end, just think, you'll be able to rest easy knowing that Master Chief and Halo are forever stamped into the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere. So [url=http://www.walkofgame.com/]head over there right now[/url] and register at the [url=http://www.walkofgame.com/]Walk of Game.[/url]

October Giveaway

The Forerunners Network is proud to announce it's October giveaway. This month you can have a chance to win all 6 Master Chiefs by Joyride Studios or, a brand new Halo XBox Game or Halo PC Game.

The Forerunners Network is proud to announce it's October giveaway. This month you can have a chance to win all 6 Master Chief's by Joyride Studio's or, a brand new Halo XBox Game or Halo PC Game.
Just like before, all you have to do is fill in the blanks and you are on your way to hopefully winning our biggest prize give away to date. Special thanks to AEG, (Microsoft), Bungie Studios, and Gearbox Studios for the prizes.
Head on over to [url=http://forerunners.org/rules.taf]Forerunners[/url] for a chance to win! [url]http://forerunners.org[/url]

Groups Service Release 1

Like all communities, ours evolves over time. Today, we deployed some fixes and modifications to a few things since our relaunch of the 7th Column last week.

There are a few changes you'll see, and some you won't. I won't list them all, that'd be silly. Some things you will notice are that you can see the public forums while anonymous, a fix for article and faq viewing, and various formatting issues. Fixes you won't really notice are a few hidden bugs that we found. See if you can find them all!
Next up on the list - our Theme Builder is nearing completion, and we hope to get it out to you (along with a few of our own themes) very soon, hopefully within a week. Feel free to talk about this release and give feedback about it in the Septagon.

Bungie Store Update

The new and improved [url=http://www.bungiestore.com]Bungie Store[/url] is only a week old and the shopping list is already getting longer. The latest item to lure away your hard earned money is the sleek and sexy Halo 2 titanium tumbler. More goods are on the way, stay tuned.

The new Bungie Store launched last week with a limited lineup of cool Bungie related wearables and collectibles. Today the new Halo 2 titanium tumbler is available for purchase. Drink all your hot beverages in this super cool futuristic looking drink container. If the UNSC troops in Halo 2 had an official cup, this would surely be it (ok, maybe not).
Buy one for yourself today and be sure to check out the other products up for sale. All store proceeds go directly into our "World Domination Fund." Thank you for doing your part.

New Halo 2 Screenshots!

So we're last to the party (again) but hey, better late than never. Our Halo 2 screenshot [url=http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/Gallery.aspx?Gallery=Screenshots&page=5]gallery[/url] has been updated with two brand new multiplayer shots as a special Friday treat.

Two new shots. One new map. Yes, that's right, contrary to popular theories, this is NOT Burial Mounds. This is a brand new never-before-seen map. And, check out that new little graphical touch on the sniper rifle - the real-time display on the scope. Suh-weet! That was snuck in while I was away getting hitched and was a cool surprise upon my return. Enjoy.

Bungie Weekly Update!

Frankie may be out showing off Halo 2 in Japan but that hasn't stopped him from relaying the latest report from the Bungie front lines. Today's weekly update is being hosted by our friends at [url=http://www.subnova.com/forum/?pid=20040924.184244]Subnova.[/url] Check it out!

This week's update returns to normal as Frankie provides some insight into life inside the Studio as we march towards completion. Things are wrapping up - testing is in full gear - and we're all playing the game over and over and over again. Yes, good times indeed. The work's not quite through though and Frankie may be sent on another important mission to an exotic locale. Head over to Subnova to read the full scoop!

Bungie.net Temporarily Offline Tomorrow

Tomorrow afternoon, between 1:00 and 2:00 PM PDT, Bungie.net will be offline for several hours as we integrate some code changes and make way for the return of the 7th Column.

Many of you have been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting for a while now to be able to create a chapter and get back to business in the 7th Column. Well, that wait is just about over. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be rolling out version 1.0 of the updated "new hotness" version of the 7th Column.
What does this mean to you? First off, the site will have go offline for a few hours while this big update takes place behind the scenes. When the site comes back, the 7th Column will be alive and kicking albeit with a few big changes.
The main reason we had to put the old Column out to pasture was due to the old crusty code and hardware it was running on. It just didn't have the juice to handle the influx of new members we've started to get (and will continue to get as Halo 2 nears). The new system is up to the task and should allow everyone to get back into their chapters (now called Groups) and keep the goods times rollin for the foreseeable future.
There will be more info posted tomorrow as well as a big guide explaining all the new features and changes to the 7th Column. See you then!

Got questions about Halo 2? If you missed our live interactive Q&A session on Friday, don't fret. Every last detail has been chronicled in this top story along with a few brand new bonus questions for good measure.

Special Q&A Today!

Today's Weekly Update is going to be a little different than usual. With all the hustle and bustle going on here and poor Frankie going on his 4th day without sleep while being stranded in LA, we're going to do a customized update live, on our forums, and answer your questions about the development process and life inside Bungie. Here's how it will work...

For this week's update, Frankie and I are going to take questions from the field and answer them online in a psuedo real-time chat format using the Bungie.net forums. Things are bound to get a little hectic but we think it will be fun.
The first thing we need people to do is ask questions! You can do that in the news forum - easily accessible by clicking the "discuss this story" link at the bottom of this page. Or you can click [url=/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=686612&viewreplies=true#end]HERE[/url].
Before you ask your questions, keep these points in mind:
1. NO QUESTIONS ABOUT CAMPAIGN or the STORY! (we won't even acknowledge these questions)
2. Don't spam and ruin this for everyone. We'll be banning people.
3. Questions about life inside Bungie, the final crunch, Alta's haircut, the Beta, etc.. are all fair game.
[b]At approx. 2:00 PM PDT Frankie and I will login to the New Mombasa forum and start answering questions. [/b]
We'll hang out for an hour or so and have some fun. =)
Ok, now get to the news forum and post your question for the weekly update!

All New Bungie Store!

Just in time for the arrival of Halo 2 comes [url=http://www.bungiestore.com]The All New Bungie Store[/url] and the new Bungie swag to accompany it. The initial selection is compact and bijou, but we’ll be rolling more goodies into our mercantile in the coming weeks, including some very cool, very exclusive surprises.

But the stuff available right now, from a Flaming Ninja T-Shirt to a titanium Halo 2 pen, is pretty cool. What are you waiting for? Head the [url=http://www.bungiestore.com]The All New Bungie Store[/url] right this second!
So go check it out, and don’t believe any of the rumors that the site is connected directly to Sketch and Frankie’s Hawaiian Escape PayPal account.

Seems like just about everyone on Earth has the new Halo 2 screenshots except us. But don't worry, we've gathered the latest and greatest Halo 2 beta hands-on reports for you, right here. And we'll be posting those shots ourselves next week.

Bungie Weekly Update!!!

The clock is ticking. Every week the game gets closer and closer to completion. That's the good news. The bad is that means there's less time and less development to talk about. But talk we do. This week we're back at [url=http://www.halobabies.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19917#19917]Halo Babies[/url] where we discuss music and madness. So check it out.

Seriously, just go over to [url=http://www.halobabies.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19917#19917]Halo Babies[/url] to see what's going on!

Halo PC 1.05 on Tuesday

Halo PC 1.05 (a hotfix version) will be released Tuesday. Read on for details and a link to the dedicated server

This is a 1-day advance notice that we'll be releasing a hotfix to Halo PC (v 1.05) sometime tomorrow. No feature changes, just two fixes:
1. Security fix to prevent a malicious user from being able to shut down the game on the server (never yet exploited, that we know of)
2. Fix for the XP SP2 problems as noted in my other recent thread on The Maw forum here on www.bungie.net.
If you would like to get your dedicated servers ready, here is the download: [url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/b/6/9b64c4f1-9213-45d0-bb89-caae14e9a77c/haloded.exe]Halo PC 1.05 Dedicated Server[/url].
I'll be sending the corresponding hotfix for Halo CE (to v. 1.05 to stay consistent) to Gearbox tomorrow also, please see their forums at that time for download instructions. (I'll set Halo CE to auto-update also, if Gearbox has a codesigning certificate available (I'm not sure). If they don't, I will refrain from having it auto-update, for the protection of the users, who we don't want to encourage to run unsigned bits that are pushed to them, due to the risk of spoofing.)
Feel free to copy this post to the Gearbox forums - I never got around to setting up an account there :-)
-Roger

Bungie Weekly Update!!!

We're back at [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=5258&tid=1474269]Battleground Halo[/url] with the Weekly Update. And this week's [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=5258&tid=1474269]update[/url] is chock full of music, animation and overall progress info.

And the way we figure it, this might be one of the last seven or eight updates! Maybe nine. Who's counting. And frankly, we';re gonna run out of stuff to tell you in October. [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=5258&tid=1474269]Click here to check it out[/url].

The Winds of Change

The time is upon us. All things must change, and so the 7th Column must change with the times. The long and the short of it is that the 7th Column will be shut down on Tuesday, Sept. 7th for at least one and possibly two weeks. When it comes back up, it will be completely different. Read on for more information on what you have to do to make sure you're ready.

Many changes are coming to the 7th Column. It gets a new look, a new forum system, a new security role system, and a different user database system (now called Resources). Like all change, though, we're going to lose some things, at least in the short term. Most notable is the loss of the event system - although neat, it was hardly used at all by the majority of groups, so it will not be available after the transfer.
All 7th Column fanclubs will be affected by these changes. First, any chapter with less than three [b]active[/b] members will be deleted, including all their data. Second, as we are moving the fanclubs to run in the new forum system, any existing forum posts will be deleted. Sorry, but that's the way it will have to be. Archive anything you want to repost later! Third, only news stories from 4/12/2004 and on will be transferred, the rest will be deleted.
The biggest change will come with user resources, formerly referred to as user databases. Before, each fanclub was allowed 100 individual resources with 1000 rows of data in each. Unfortunately, due to the rapid growth of bungie.net, we cannot continue to use those high limits. Furthermore, user resources had many different templates for data. In the interests of simplicity, several of those were removed because they had nothing to do with the 7th Column's goal of fostering LAN events and Bungie-related shennanigans. Going forward, there will be user resource types. The first five are limited to one per group, with a 250 entry maximum: Guest Book, Contact Info, FAQ, Links, and Articles. The Guest book, FAQ, and Links Resource types function as before. The Contact Info has expanded fields to allow for more information than before. The Articles resource type now allows 10000 characters of text per entry. The sixth resource type is is the Custom Columns type. By far the most popular resource type, each fanclub will have 25 available slots for these Custom columns resources, Each of those slots can contain 100 rows of 6 columns. We apologize for the lack of the gametypes database - it will most likely return in a future update.
What does this mean to you? Well, obviously there are new limits to data. If your resources go over the limits, then they won't be transferred. You can try and delete items to bring your group under the limits, but I recommend that you simply do nothing. After the migration, see if you are missing anything, and then request your resource datafiles - We will export all existing user resources to XML and make them available via a means to be announced in the future. Only groups that meet the 3 member minimum criteria will have resource XML files available. So, if the migration misses anything important, you'll still have a copy to do touch up work.
In closing, it is important to note that although we appreciate your feedback for the 7th Column, [b]there can be no exceptions to any of these limits or migration procedures[/b]. We will answer your questions posted in the forum thread attached to this news article, but again, please do not ask for exceptions to the migration rules. We thank you for you patience as we take this step forward.